Portus
by Azralan
Summary: A different power, a different way. There Taylor triggers with the ability to control bugs... here it's the power that qualified a certain pig-tailed middleschool girl as a level 4. AltPower!Taylor - CANCELLED
1. Prologue: AIM

**Prologue: AIM**

 _An_Involuntary_Movement_

The smell...

The excruciating smell.

The smell of rotten tampons; of insects feeding off the waste left here for me.

The smell of despair and loneliness; of helplessness and isolation...

Insects were surrounding me, skittering in the darkness of the locker; skittering in the darkness of my prison. Crawling maggots squirming in the filth that surrounded me. Spiders trying their best to catch the flies in their nets.

All the bugs... happily munching whatever their prey was, crawling all over me.

I could still hear their taunting, their laughing, cruelty dripping from their words. But that couldn't be... It must've been hours since I was locked in here...

Would nobody ever come to safe me?

The smell, the sensations of the bugs swarming me, the knowledge that they had gotten to me...

These weren't even the worst thing...

The worst, the most hurtful thing was the knowledge that I was alone. All alone.

Nobody had come for me, nobody had notified the teachers; and if they had it would have just proven that not even the school cared for me. Nobody did.

I even blamed my dad. He should have noticed that something was wrong, noticed I was being bullied. He didn't.

Why... Why had they done this... If I hadn't been in such a 'sticky' situation I probably would have admired their dedication. Wasn't torturing me for almost two years straight enough? Did they relly have to lock me inside this GODDAMN LOCKER?

HOW COULD THEY? HOW COULD THAT BITCH EMMA DO THAT? I TRUSTED HER! I TRUSTED her... I _trusted_ her...

Oh Emma... I thought we might be able to be friends again. What changed you that much...

My anger replaced itself with sadness as I lamented over my lost friendship with her. She had been my lifeline through middle-school. We had sleepovers, saw each other almost every day... we were like sisters! And then she shamelessly betrayed my trust.

When we started high school, she found herself a new friend: Sophia Hess. Together they tormented me, day by day. They were soon joined by Madison and together they formed the trio that had so much fun making my life a living hell.

After they stole mom's flute I had thought they'd never be able to top that...

Now, covered in filth, used tampons and my own vomit... I felt so lonely... so... _broken_.

Then I realized... I'd never get out. The janitor might find me, but I could still die from the infections; from the bacteria that had gotten into my wounds. The wounds I had created while clawing at the locker's door; the wounds that ran deep, the wounds that also hurt my soul. And then my melancholy reached it's climax. There, abandoned by all but the insects feasting on me, locked inside a metal box filled with the filth of my tormentors, helped by no one and outcast like a pariah, I blacked out. I was tired... _broken_. What use had fighting against my life when all I tried broke to pieces, my reality shattered and I would just lose hope. Slowly, like a creeping shadow at the back of my mind, dreaded but blissful darkness came over me and I was out like a light.

…

…

…

I jolted awake, startled. Where was I?

The answer and the stench hit me simultaneously. _The Locker_. I was _still_ in the locker. Nobody had gotten me out. How long had I been unconscious anyway? Hours? Minutes? Only a few seconds?

I panicked. I didn't even know how long I'd been in here! Then- ARGH...

My head hurt. It hurt badly. Everything felt so alien... was I already dying? Was this how the way into afterlife felt? My... thoughts felt different. Stronger. Slowly but steadily, my headache subsided. Okay... first things first. I still needed to get out! But how? I was still trapped, the locker keeping me from getting away, making me stay within the filth.

Once again, I panicked. And then a thought pushed itself to the front of my mind. All my other thought processes halted as if in awe of that one single thought.

 **[0;0;1]**

Why was I suddenly looking at the floor?

My eyes opened and closed in disbelief. One, Two, Three times total. Yes, I was indeed outside of the locker. Still badly bruised and filthy but I was _free_!

I turned myself and made my way through the school. It was very dark, the linoleum floor reflecting light from outside the only source of illumination. The halls of Winslow High around me as I stumbled awkwardly through them. After a while I had reached the main entrance.

Had I really escaped? Or was this just some kind of dream... And also: How _did_ I escape if I did?

As if in fear of this wonderful 'dream' ending if I opened the door, I very slowly reached for the doorknob.

…

Locked.

NO! I WON'T STAY HERE! NEVER AGAIN! I WANT OUT!

And so my mind once again shifted, a though coming to halt at the front of my mind.

 **[0;0;1]**

The next thing Inoticed was how wonderful the moon looked.

I truly was free now. I had left Winslow behind. Through some strange twist of fate, I had escaped.

And now I was _free!_ For real this time.

Still aching and stumbling and very, very awkwardly I made my way home.

The horror had ended.

 _ **A/N: OOOOOH YEAH! Once again, sorry for the long wait! Now, keep in mind that I am rewriting the entire story so don't go thinking this is the first chapter. It isn't. This is the prologue. Taylor's discussion with her dad will be I the next chapter ( I totally just wanted to use the TAMNI reference as a title for the first rewritten part).**_

 _ **I hope you enjoyed it and thanks to all who reviewed my story thus far, especially to those I actually had some more or less lengthy conversation with. Thank you all, dear reviewers, subscribers and readers.**_

 _ **Now then, have a wonderful evening (here it's evening anyway...)!**_

 _ **-Azralan**_


	2. Movement 1 rewrite

**Movement 1.1**

 _Exploring_Esemplasy_

When I arrived at home I found my dad in the kitchen, sitting at the table and looking worriedly out of the window. It broke my heart, seeing him like this. He looked desperate. If I hadn't returned, if I had died... I don't think he could've handled it. Not after mom...

I wasn't sure how I should handle the situation; I had no clue how he would react. Would he be angry? Yeah, most likely. He's always had some anger issues.

How would he react if I told him about my powers, about me being a cape? Should I even tell him? I was sure he needed to know about that when I went to join the Wards; did I even want to join them? They were all teens so drama was ensured. Well, no reason to decide too soon, I didn't even know what exactly my powers were.

I steeled myself and rang the doorbell. It took a while but I soon heard dad shout: "Who's there? If it's not important, go away."

Unsure, I answered: "dad? It's me, dad."

"Taylor?!", I immediately heard dad rushing toward the door ripping it open with excessive force. I was swept into a hug, dad not caring in the slightest about the garbage I was covered. He held me tight. "God... I was so worried about you.", he nearly sobbed and I felt my heart warming, "Come on, my little owl. Let's get inside and clean you up." he smiled at me. Yeah, my dad is awesome.

.oO Later Oo.

After the clean-up my dad and me sat down in the kitchen. While I had been under the shower he made some hot chocolate; it was truly the best after a shitty day. We sat on opposite ends of the table and the yellow light above us illuminated the room and provided a comfortably cosy feeling. After we both took a sip of our chocolate, which tasted perfect, by the way, dad decided to start our conversation.

"So, Taylor. Where have you been?"

"I... have been at school."

dad eyed me suspiciously. "That doesn't explain the filth you had been covered in. "

"I... I... They stuffed me into my locker dad.", the memory of the event made tears flow, "The bullies... I never thought they'd go this far."

"Bullies, Taylor?", sympathy filled his eyes. Then he asked one simple question: "Since when?"

"Ever since high school started. They made it their mission to torment me every day; they poured juice over my things, tripped me, insulted me... And when I told the teachers, nothing happened. They didn't do anything to help me. They even accused me of making it all up to get attention!"

dad's grip around his cup tightened. "Who are the bullies. Please, tell me so I can help you. You should have told me sooner, anyway."

I sighed. Looks like I can't keep quiet forever. I steeled myself. "Madison Clements. She's the cute one, distracting the teachers and stuff. Sophia Hess... she's the track star, help her get out of trouble. She's responsible for the shoving and the other physical stuff." I took another deep breath. Come on, Taylor, you can do this. "The last one is Emma... she has changed."

dad looked understandably surprised. Then his expression of surprise shifted into one of fury.

"Emma... I need to speak to Alan about that.", he made a move to stand up.

"dad, no. Alan already knows about the and he'll just try to ruin us if you do anything. We don't have the money to go to court.", I interrupted him; he sat back down after, "Please, dad. The school never did anything, why should they now? Mr Barnes has been there every time I complained about the bullying. There's nothing we can do for now.", I went went toward the end, "The only hope I have left is a transfer to Arcadia..."

"Then we'll just have to get you one.", he tried to cheer me up.

"With them stealing my homework and all that? Don't think it's possible.", oh god... it really was hopeless. Arcadia seemed to be my only escape opportunity and it seemed like even that was hopeless. Wait, didn't the Wards go to Arcadia? But that meant probably having to put up with eve more teen drama... I'll have to consider that.

"But for now... You'll stay at home for the rest of the week, alright? We'll have to see what we can do."

And with that said we sat back and calmly watched whatever crappy show was on the TV at the time.

.oO...Oo.

I couldn't sleep.

It had been a very exhausting day, mainly because of one thing. The Locker.

I had somehow gotten out of it. I became a parahuman and escaped. Only now I truly realized what that meant. I could finally be a hero! That that, Emma. I'm better than you. Now I'll be able to fight side by side with famous heroes like Armsmaster and Alexandria.

And should I join the Wards? They joined the Protectorate when they got older, didn't they? But my dad would flip; there was no way I could be a hero without him noticing. I have to tell him sometime. For now I was content with just finding out more about my power.

Oh and I desperately needed to get into shape if I wanted to become a hero. I was painfully skinny, built like a beanpole with neither muscle nor fat. Heroes patrolled the roofs and streets and I needed to be able to run for longer than my record of 50 seconds.

So, doing more sports was one the list; the problem was, how would I get dad to sign me up for any courses? We didn't have the money and could barely afford living properly.

Maybe the library would have an answer, or more specific: the library computers. I could look into that tomorrow; for now I needed to sleep. My brain was still buzzing with energy and it was hard to just try and think of nothing.

.oO The next morning Oo.

I woke up to the smell of pancakes and coffee. Groggily I sat up and rubbed the sleep out of my eyes. 'Did yesterday really happen?', I wondered. I took a moment to collect my thoughts. When I opened my eyes I looked over to my bedside table; The cup that had the hot chocolate in it was still there. 'Not a dream', I concluded.

I stood up, took some fresh clothes out of the wardrobe and made my way to the bathroom. Turning on the shower I unclothed myself and stepped under it. The lukewarm water was like heaven to me and I felt both muscles and thoughts relax.

Sadly though, everything must eventually come to an end and so I put the shampoo back in its place, rinsed my hair and turned off the shower. I stepped out, dried myself and proceeded with the rest of my bathroom routine. Once finished I stepped outside and went down the staircase, down to the kitchen.

My dad greeted me with a 'Mornin' kiddo', as usual. Breakfast was already served and I took my usual seat at the table. My dad sat down at the opposite end.

"Did you sleep well, little Owl?"

I smiled a little. "At first I was too high on energy to rest. I fell asleep soon after, though."

"I'm sorry I can't stay for too long, I need to be at work by ten and it's already nine... If you get hungry there's still some garlic bread in the cabinet.", he sounded a little worried about me.

"Don't worry, dad. I'll be fine.", I assured him. With that out of the way we ate in peace until dad had to go.

.oO...Oo.

After my dad left I went into my room and searched for some kind of old notebook or something; I would need it to document my ideas and my progress about my powers and costume and everything I'd need to be a hero. I soon found one and went downstairs, into the basement, to do some power-testing.

First of all, before starting the experimentation, I cleared some space for me to use. As fr as I knew I had some kind of teleportation ability, thus free space was important.

Then I sat down in the approximate middle of the elliptical space I had decided to use. Before I could do anything I needed to to know how to use my power. From what I had gathered I knew that the use of powers was normally pretty intuitive, like an instinct.

I opened my eyes again and looked at the floor about two meters away from me. I wanted to get there. I willed myself with all my might to appear at my destination but to no avail. I simply didn't move an inch.

I slumped a little. Why didn't it work. I thought about what had happened back then, at the locker. The memory was a bit blurry but I managed t remember the thoughts that had pushed themselves to the front of my mind. Some kind of calculation? Possibly, but that wouldn't be very intuitive. Sure, I loved computer class but I wasn't that big of a nerd that I calculated the angle, distance and direction of my target in every time I wanted to move; what an absurd thought.

…

Wait a moment. Oh god... I am such a nerd, aren't I? At least that was what happened then.

With a sigh I decided to try exactly that. I decided on a new destination, exactly one meter ahead of me. I wanted to arrive and immediately see the place I had vanished from. That meant a turn by 180° and a forward movement of one meter. With that in mind the relative coordinates of my destination would be... [0;0;1|0°;0°;180°]

Yes, that was it. That was were I chose to be... And were I appeared, with a strange whooshing sound. The feeling was a little disorienting, to be honest, and I couldn't imagine being able to do that rapidly over and over again. Well, that meant I'd need more training.

Time to do it again. This time I decided to appear a meter above my current position while standing straight, not sitting. I imagined myself there, [0;1;0], my legs stretched out. I, once again, chose to be there and opened my eyes when I heard the sound of displacing air, or whatever it really was. Less than a second after that I felt my feet impact the ground under me.

It had worked.

I continued to practice for a little longer, finding the feeling of teleportation easier to handle with each repetition. Once I was confident in my ability to not crash into anything by accident I thought about the possibilities this power gave me.

I would be able to get close to any enemies in the blink of an eye, attack the fast and get back to safety. That was basically what Oni Lee, the 'Lieutenant' of the Azn Bad Boys, and the only other teleporter in Brockton Bay that I knew of, did. Striking the enemy fast and immediately teleporting away, but he had his clones to assist him. I didn't have that luxury. I needed to actually learn some kind of fighting style if I wanted to be effective. That also meant I'd have to do a lot more sports, at least if I wanted to be able to fight for longer than five minutes.

That reminded me: Oni Lee had his clones, maybe I had some kind of secondary power aspect or could do something else with my teleportation? Maybe I could teleport things other than myself. People or items. I mean, my clothes, thankfully, did teleport with me.

I decided to test it. Grabbing a pencil laying on the ground, the one pencil I wanted to use to write things in my 'cape journal', I looked for an acceptable target. There! A glass standing on the table at the far end of the room.

Alright, how should I go about this... I had to guess the distance: about five meters maybe? Seemed about right. I knew the table was about a meter high, it was a rather low one. And at what angle should it appear? Straight above the glass was a good option.

So... [1;1,2;5|-30°;0;0] should be about right. I visualized the result, the result of the small calculation strengthening the image, and chose for the pencil to appear there.

Once I heard the sound again, I looked up to see the result.

"Damn, I missed... Wait, what?"

The pencil did touch the glass. In fact, it was stuck into its side. I seemed to have messed up my coordinates and now it simply stuck inside the glass. But there were no fractures in the glass. The part the pencil now replaced had simply... vanished.

I teleported the pencil into the glass. Just as I wanted but... different. Could I do that again, maybe with something else? I ripped a sheet of paper out of my 'journal' and got ready. I held it horizontally in front of me. No need to change the angle as I had decided I would try to cut the glass this time. I wanted, needed to see if this worked.

Alright, again. [1;1.15;5]

The sound resonated again and this time I saw what happened.

The glass was cut, no fractures anywhere. Simply cut in half.

Well, that certainly would be useful. With that power I might be able to pin the bad guys to walls and stuff.

A giddy feeling filled me. This was so awesome. If I wanted to pierce through things I simply needed teleport a nail in it. And was there a limit on how much I could teleport? Probably, would be just too strong otherwise. I needed to find out.

I decided to start with the things I had at the house; if that wasn't enough I might have to visit the ship graveyard. For now I would take a break, though. I had gotten rather hungry and the thought of the garlic bread waiting for me was just too much. I took my journal and and my two pencil halves out of the 'glass' and went upstairs. I would take some time to work on an exercise plan and go over my possible fighting styles. But best of all...

It was time to work on a costume! After all... you just weren't a real hero without a nice costume.

 _ **A/N: It took so long again... my working morale is simply shit. I didn't even properly write for two weeks (Well, I have been away during the majority of that time). Maybe it was because I simply thought too much while writing. For most of this chapter I didn't think too much and just wrote. I hope it is satisfactory. The next update will be sooner. I might update my Touhou/Worm Crossover before that, 'though.**_

 _ **PS: Just a little update for the subtitle. I'm trying to alwayss have one and they may or may not fit properly.**_


	3. Movement 2 rewrite

**Movement 1.2**

 _mugging_gone_wrong_

A few days later I was jogging down the the boardwalk. I had dedicated myself to exercise more and find out how to use my powers most efficiently. My costume was almost finished, the design, at least, and I had a fitness routine planned out. I was going to go running twice a day, in the morning and in the evening, and I've already looked for some fighting styles I wanted to use. I had also found some books on military fighting techniques which were, at least for me, more accessible than most other martial arts.

I had also found a dojo that taught more of an 'universal style'. As far as I knew, there weren't many students. I had already told dad about my idea of learning martial arts there and, although not very happy about it, he agreed that it would be a better self-defence than only pepper spray, and he would drive me there the next day, on Saturday.

I could also tell that, while I had only been going on runs for the past two days, I felt like I had much more energy and wasn't as easily exhausted by things; although I would still crash into my bed after my evening run and pass out. At least it gave me a feeling of accomplishment.

Another bonus of these runs was that I could stop by the ship graveyard and practice my powers a bit. Especially in the evening not many people could be seen around the docks. That was because the docks were ABB territory and the all Asian gang was overall rather feared; that was mostly because their leader was Lung, an incredibly powerful villain that had managed to stand up and fight toe-to-toe with an Endbringer.

Still, sometimes one could see some f the Merchant's druggies hanging out around the graveyard, mostly because not even the ABB were interested in tons of scrap metal that wouldn't really serve a purpose. It was still awesome to 'teleport-parkour' inside and on top of the damaged ships, the feeling of freedom was exhilarating.

My power was awesome and it was steadily getting easier to use. The calculations got faster the more I practiced my teleportation. The thing I had to work on was awareness of my surroundings. To teleport properly I needed several things: the destination's location, accuracy and knowledge of both my and the locations surroundings. If I failed to notice a fence, for example, I might just teleport myself into it and hurt myself. Or if I tried to transport a needle into my hands so I could hold and throw them or something... if I wasn't careful it could end up stabbed into my palm.

On another note: I still wasn't sure if I should tell my dad and/or join the Wards. It was an important decision, after all. If I joined the Wards I would probably get special training and a transfer to Arcadia High; that was a very tempting option.

And if I didn't join the Wards I would be stuck at Winslow. And I wouldn't get any special training. But I would also be able to do my own thing, actually help those in need without the need of many PR event. For my cause this was the best option. But... Winslow...

I couldn't decide yet. Why does it have to be such a hard decision.

…

My lungs soon started to burn as I slowly neared the end of my run. Only two blocks to go. I kept going and started sprinting when there was only one block left. I felt the strain but kept pushing; my breathing was ragged and I knew I couldn't go further. But I had to, because I wanted to be a hero; heroes didn't give up.

At last I arrived at home. I opened the door and walked in, slowly. I could hear my dad rummaging in the kitchen, preparing breakfast. I called out a quick good morning and proceeded upstairs to shower and clean myself of the sweat that had accumulated itself during my run.

The shower was always an event of pure bliss. I hadn't realized just how good it could feel, back then. Now that I was running twice a day I could really feel the tension leaving my body. It was simply wonderful.

Once I finished I turned off the water, proceeded to dry myself and went downstairs right after.

Dad, by then, had finished preparing breakfast and was sitting at the table with a hot cup of coffee, waiting for me to sit down. I shot him a small smile and sat down. He looked happy that I had returned safely from my morning run; one could never be sure in Brockton Bay.

"It's good to see you feeling better now.", my dad told me.

"Yeah, I feel much better now. The running really helps to wake me up.", I smiled, "I would never have thought that I would actually enjoy physical exertion. I'm already excited for tomorrow."

"That's good to hear. I hope so, I'll be paying for it, after all. So you better give your best!", he said in a mock scolding tone. I smiled inwardly in response.

"Well, I'll be going to work soon. What's your plan for the day?", he continued.

"I thought about going to the library and looking something up. I might also lend a few books, I've had some interesting ideas."

"That's great. Could you take out the garbage before you go?"

"Of course, dad.", life was pretty good right now.

.oO...Oo.

After dad went to work I dressed myself and went outside, two garbage bags in my hands. A quick calculation brought them into the dumpster without much effort on my part. With that done I continued toward the library. The sun was shining brightly and made the snow shine in an intense white. Most kids my age were in school and I didn't have to worry about being spotted by any of them. God knows I wasn't save from them outside of school.

I wanted to visit the library to look for any books I could find on athletics, specifically on how I could increase my performance. I was by no means going to be some kind of protein shake junkie, I simply wanted to eat healthier and all that. If I was going to take this hero stuff seriously I would give I my all.

.oO...Oo.

The trip to the library went off without a hitch. It was on the way back home that it happened.

"HELP! N-No, don't touch me, leave me alone."

Some thugs had decided to rob a girl in broad daylight. The girl was a bit older than me, probably around seventeen and the two muggers had decided to corner her in a nearby alley. Several people were watching the scene but most lost interest and walked away, many too afraid to do anything, most not interested; they didn't seem to mind anything that wasn't their business. There was, however, a blonde standing a little bit to the side, calling someone, hopefully the police, while watching the scene unfolding before her.

I decided that I had to intervene; if I wanted to be a hero, my career would start now, mask or not.

I readied myself and stepped forward. This was going to be risky, I couldn't just use my power if I wanted to remain unknown, and I didn't have a mask. However... I still had my pepper spray and these muggers only had a knife and a baseball bat, at least as far as I could tell.

I stepped forward and did my best attempt at a confident voice: "Hey, leave her alone! Don't you have something better to do than mugging girls?"

They turned around as I stepped into the alley, on my way to them I had noticed a few people looking at me like I was crazy for intervening.

"And why would that be your concern, little girl? Go home and cry to your mommy."

What a cheesy line... Still, being reminded of my mother's death hurt.

I put one hand into the pocket that contained my pepper spray. I could totally do this.

"Just leave her alone and we won't have a problem. What kind of cowards are you, anyway? Going after an unarmed girl as an armed duo."

"None of that is your concern.", the knife guy sneered. He looked at his companion and nodded his head toward me: "Let's get her."

And they charged at me. The bat guy first, he was a little faster and didn't have t worry about hurting himself with his own weapon as he ran.

I anticipated him executing a straight and simple downward swing and moved to the side to avoid the blow. Once the guy noticed he had missed it was already too late as I had already gotten my pepper spray out, aimed it at his face and immediately pulled the nozzle.

His bat fell to the ground as he screamed in agony while gripping at his eyes. I went for the opening and delivered a knee into his stomach, the only move I had enough training for and could properly execute.

The guy doubled over and cursed, he then curled up on the ground as I kicked him in the shin. Knife guy briefly hesitated, his comrade had gone down. Would he flee? It was bright daylight and most people on the street had tuned to look at the mugging as soon as I stepped in. He had nowhere to go. But someone without a way of retreat tended to do desperate things. Thus he resumed his charge and swung his knife horizontally from his left to his right.

I hadn't expected him to continue to rush me and thus barely managed to drop onto my knees. Because of my slow reaction the mugger managed to slice off some of my long hair, the hair that reminded me of my mother. I got angry and gathered my strength to pull at his leg and make him fall.

He fell back wards with a thump and I stood up and regained my footing. I quickly stomped on his wrist while he was still in stupor from his sudden fall. He cried out and dropped the knife, then lashed out with his leg to repay the pain.

I took his foot to my stomach and doubled over. Fortunately this got me in range of his face and I use the pepper spray I still held in one hand to make him feel pain.

The knife guy cried out and I fell back, crawling. He didn't seem to want to get up so I slowly stood up myself. Once standing I went went over to the almost-victim of the mugging and spoke in a concerned tone: "Hey, you okay?", I tried to smile although the pain I felt was still rather intense.

She looked a little shocked but seemed grateful. She was rather beautiful, now that I could see her properly. "I should ask you that, don't you think? Honestly, what were you thinking? They would have just taken my wallet and that would have been it.", she sighed, pulling a few strand of her long, straight and brown hair behind her ear. After that she continued, "Not that I'm not grateful or anything. It's just seems a little reckless, to just jump into a fight to protect some stranger. But anyway...", a smile graced her features, "Thank you. You kinda saved my monthly allowance. Can I make it up to you somehow?"

I smiled back. "You don't have to, I gladly did it. I'll be fine, the pain is already fading. Might leave a bruise but that's all. Well... Could I borrow your phone? I'd like to call my dad and tell him I'll be late for dinner. The police should arrive here shortly and the questioning could take some time."

She agreed and I proceeded to call my dad. Man, that was one heck of an adrenaline rush. And as I called my dad on the borrowed phone I could have sworn that I saw some shadowy figure on a rooftop nearby, staring at the scenery spread across the alley. Well, that was probably just my imagination.

 _ **A/N: Aaaand... we're done. I actually wanted to have Taylor enter the dojo in this chapter but then I got the idea with the mugging. I do hope it turned out okay, it was pretty fun to write that short fighting scene. Well, thank you for reading ;)**_

 _ **Have a wonderful day/night, wherever you are.**_

 _ **-Azralan**_


	4. Movement 3 rewrite

**Movement 1.3**

 _training_efforts_

Needless to say, my dad was pretty surprised when he saw my face in the newspaper the next morning. It was quite the experience, coming down the stairs into the kitchen and being hugged by a proud father. He told me something about inheriting my mother's sense of justice.

I, myself, was pretty proud, too. I proved myself that I was willing to walk the path of a hero.

The questioning by the police had been rather simple, too. They were a little surprised that I had helped a complete stranger but they seemed to be glad that there were some people out there who'd do such a thing.

And then I saw my face in the newspaper, this morning. Granted, it was just a small story; that didn't mean it wasn't a big deal for me though. But that wasn't the only reason for me to be happy.

Today I was going to visit this dojo for the first time. Dad had made sure that there would be no courses during the time of our visit because the teacher said that he wanted to evaluate potential students at his own pace, without pressure.

But first I had a tasty breakfast ahead of me... after my morning run, of course.

.oO...Oo.

The air outside was intensely fresh. It smelled good and because there weren't many cars around on a Saturday at this hour the air also smelled very natural.

This invigorating smell really helped me with my run, made me feel especially light on my feet.

A few of the people I met on my way seemed to either recognize me from the newspaper or were just very friendly in general because they seemed to smile at me in passing. That weren't many, though. Maybe two or three at most.

At last, I pushed myself and the run soon came to an end.

.oO...Oo.

After we had breakfast, my got ready and we drove off to the boardwalk because the dojo was located somewhere in it's vicinity. Eventually we found it and when I first laid my eyes upon it, I was... underwhelmed. It was basically a normal house, albeit on the larger side, with a small sign over the door. No wonder there weren't many students.

Well, I guess I shouldn't judge a house by it's exterior. We got out of the car and rang the doorbell.

The door was opened by a middle aged man who had slightly Asian features but gave of a certain European vibe. My guess was at half-Asian. He looked rather friendly, had black hair and a very small chin-beard. He wasn't particularly tall, about a head shorter than my dad.

"You are the Heberts?", he asked us and when we both nodded, he continued, "Then come in, my name is Stanley Miyamoto. A bit of a butchered name but you know how parents are...", he stepped inside.

Dad and I followed into the small chamber that was most likely thought as a place to keep your shoes and jacket. We hung our jackets on some hooks embedded in the wall and took off our shoes, the glass door to the next room showed a large chamber with a wooden floor and gym mats littered over the floor. Dad closed the main door behind us and we stepped into the training room.

In the middle of the room there was a low table, not very big but it had three steaming cups of tea. Stanley gestured for us to sit; we complied.

"So, you must be Taylor then.", he looked at me and I felt him assessing me," Tell me", he took a sip of his tea, "why you want to learn from me. And what do you hope to learn or accomplish?"

I thought about that. I wanted to learn how to defend myself so I could use acquired skills in synergy with my powers... but I also wanted to, just like yesterday, show those people out there that anybody could make a difference by stepping in. After all, I hadn't used my powers yesterday. My goal was to inspire people to do good, I wanted to help make the bay a better place to live in, both in and out of costume.

Being in costume gave me the opportunity to engage gangs and threats directly. Out of costume I could stand up for others and help, knowing some ways to defend myself would make that a lot easier. I wanted to make a point, send a message. Yes, I would be a messenger, _a herald_ , who would make people realize that they didn't have to depend solely on capes to stop crimes; even if it was just the not-so-friendly neighbourhood mugger... They could make a difference.

I slowly took a sip of my tea, a delicious jasmine tea, opened my eyes and gave him my answer.

"I want to stand up for people. I've seen first-hand how people are content with being bystanders, let other handle problems... Like there is nothing you can do against some random mugger.", I looked him in the eyes," There are people being threatened and robbed in broad daylight, twenty people watching and doing nothing. I want to be able to help the victims of those incidents. Of course I could do that without your teachings but it would be much safer for both me and anyone involved if I knew how to properly defend myself."

My posture showed resolve and conviction. I was going to go through with this, if this guy wanted to teach me or not. If he didn't I would just slow me down a bit.

.oO_Mini_Interlude_Oo.

Danny Hebert looked at his daughter, watched her talk about her goal, about what she hoped to achieve. Her eyes had a certain steel to it and she radiated finality. He knew he couldn't change her mind regardless of what he told her. She was like Annette in that regard; once set on something it was incredibly hard, if not outright impossible, to get her to change her mind.

The teacher, Stanley Miyamoto, seemed to notice her conviction. He seemed at least a little impressed. Then he spoke: "I see your confident and convicted. Alright, I shall teach you how to defend yourself. Now, keep in mind that I'm not teaching you this so you can go out there and be a hero, you should leave that to the Protectorate. These are not techniques to 'put down bad guys', these will be for your and other's defence. Should I find out abut you using what you've learned in my lessons to harm someone out of spite or to get what you want, consider yourself to no longer be my student.", Stanley stood up, "Now, how about we see what you've got. Mr. Hebert, how about we discuss payment and all that some other day? I'll first have to see what I am going to work with."

Danny Hebert agreed and left his daughter in the man's care. As he walked the short way to where his car was parked, Danny knew one thing: He was proud to be his daughter's father.

.oO...Oo.

I had changed into my gym clothes. Stanley instructed me to warm myself up a bit. Apparently, he wanted to know if I knew how to handle that.

I did some basic stretches, nothing fancy... These stretches were all I knew about warm-up, anyway. We never really discussed these things in gym class.

From what I saw it looked like my new teacher disapproved and after a few minutes, he interrupted me. "Alright, we'll definitely have to work on that as soon as we start with the actual training. Now, come over here."

I followed him to a gym mat in the far corner of the room; there, a small punching bag was hanging from the ceiling.

"Now, show me a straight punch."

I complied. I drew my clenched fist back, and swung my arm at the dummy.

…

The punch wasn't very effective and probably would have hurt me more than my target, had dthis been a real fight.

"Now, that's not really how to do it. First off, don't put your thumb under the other fingers, keep it outside of them but not outstretched. If you swing hard enough with your fist like that, you could break your thumb.", he demonstrated a proper fist for me and I imitated him.

"Secondly, don't rear your fist that far behind your back. Actually, try to not put it behind your back at all. It would only give your opponent an opening.", he stepped in front of the training dummy, "Instead, have your fist clenched at your waist with the elbow bent and jutting out at your back. The fingers should be upwards, see here?", he demonstrated the proper pose, "Then you can punch in a straight like. If you then outstretch your arm to about shoulder level, your hand will rotate a bit mid punch and..."

.oO_Later_Oo.

Two hours later I was sweaty and tired. Who knew you could do so many things wrong with just punches? My new teacher had me repeat the whole process of throwing a punch several times, then showed me proper body weight exercises: sit-ups, push-ups, and oh so many more...

Honestly, I was more than ready to just go to sleep but apparently he had something else to say.

"Now, Taylor. Understand that you should always try to better yourself, your movements can never be too perfect. I want you to train the basics we've just discussed at home, if possible thrice a day, twice does suffice too but I recommend thrice; but keep in mid to take a day off, your body will need the rest.", he smiled at me, "I'd like to say it's just like with drinking... that if you keep drinking you'll never get a hangover... But that would be a lie, you'll get tired and it will be hard to get out of bed, that is a given. Just look at it like a way to measure your progress. If your muscles ache, they have been properly strained."

I groaned a little at that. It was already nightmarish if you only did two hours... but every day? Damn. Well, if I wanted to be a hero I guess I had to go through with it.

"Now then...", he went to a drawer and pulled out a small box, "these will be your training weights. Keep in mind it will be hard to move with them at first, but I want you to at least try. It will be beneficial to you in the long run. You are still serious about this after hearing all of that, right?"

I quickly regained my cool and nodded, I would totally keep going. If just to show myself that I wasn't as weak as the Trio said I was. I would show conviction and dedication.

"Good. Each of these is 10 pounds", he held up two wristband-like weights, "and each of these is 15 pounds.", he held up another pair of slightly longer ones, "Normally I'd start with a little less weight, but I can't seem to find the lighter ones right now, so...", he looked away a little embarrassed.

After hearing that I couldn't help but fall into despair. He then proceeded to tell me that I would join the regular classes on Tuesday and Thursday and keep coming to private lessons Saturdays. He would later discuss his payment with my father over the phone.

After stripping on the weights, getting a brief explanation on them and when it was acceptable for me to put them off, I changed and left.

On my way out I still wondered why he had accepted my reasons for wanting to learn so quickly. When I laid my eyes upon a certain newspaper lying on his desk, with a certain page opened, I knew.

 _ **A/N: So... Another rather short but acceptable chapter. The Lung fight might happen around 1.5 while the next chapter will feature Taylor returning to school and some OC's, they won't really play a major role though (yet...). I hope everything in this chapter seems realistic enough as to not insult any person actually exercising martial arts, because frankly, I dd in the past but forgot most of it. I did have some tips regarding that from a nice reviewer though (Thanks, Edale). Someone also suggested a cape name for Taylor that is 'hidden' somewhere in this chapter (Thanks, Mister you-know-who-you are... ^^)**_

 _ **Now, I want to thank everyone that has stayed with this story during the rewriting process and all those that started reading it not too long ago. The rewriting is more or less over and most of it now will just be additions and subtle (and not so subtle) changes.**_

 _ **Thank you.**_

 _ **Imma go and 'lay down my pen for now'**_

 _ **-Azralan**_


	5. Movement 4 rewrite

**Movement 1.4**

 _Back_to_School_

It was time for _m_ e to go back to school and I wasn't sure how I felt about that. I was rather conflicted about the whole school affair. On the one hand I wanted to prove that I wouldn't take shit from the Trio anymore. I would fight back, not physically, but definitely verbally. Maybe. Or I might just ignore them like before.

On the other hand... I could really use the time I was going to spent in school to train and plan and make myself more famili _a_ r with the cape scene. I had already decided what I was going to do, though. I was goin _g_ to go back to school.

On so _i_ t was that I found myself on the way to school.

I had de _c_ ided that I would use the back alleys and get there quicker via teleportation, I just had to be careful so that nobody would see me; it was very good practice, both for my body and for my power. My body got tired from the extra weights, totally unused to them, and my mind had to calculate the next destination. Between the 'jumps' I always sprinted a bit, sometimes acros _s_ the rooftops and sometimes on the ground.

I could definitely get used to this method of transportation, _i_ t would be better if I didn't have to watch out for people seeing me though. Well, whatever. But I definitely had to ensure my costume was light and flexible, that was a must for this kind of movement; light and flexible clothing would also be favourable for what I was and would be learning.

I soon saw my school in the distance. This woul _d_ be my first day after the locker... should I use my powers to evade the Trio? I wasn't quite sure. If I did and got caught? What would happen then? Maybe some gang would try to force me to be a member?

I supposed that it would be b _e_ st not to use my powers in school, at least were I could be seen.

Arriving at school, about fifteen minutes early, I stepped inside the building. I looked around: Oh, Winslow... Will you ever change?

I made my way to my locker and found a note.

 _Ms Hebert,_

 _regarding the unacceptable condition_

 _we found your locker in, please report to the_

 _principals office as soon as you arrive._

 _-Principal Blackwell_

Well, I couldn't be lucky forever. And _s_ o I made my way to the principals office, passing a few students on the way. Some of them looked at me and then whispered to those standing next to them; I ignored them, they were most likely saying something spiteful.

Once at the _o_ ffice, I knocked and stepped in to see the secretary looking up and greeting me. I was told that I was already expected and should g _o_ inside; I complied.

Inside was a woma _n_ I didn't really respect. Principal Blackwell. She was a woman of medium height and average weight. Her blonde hair seemed to be glued to her head and she didn't seem to be particularly interested in anything. She was currently shuffling through some papers on her desk.

"Ah, Ms Hebert, please enter and sit down, I was expecting you.", she called out to me.

I nodded my head and sat down. "Good morning principal Blackwell."

She seemed to have found the papers she had been looking for and put them down in front of her.

"Now, we are here to discuss the condition we found your locker in on Tuesday. Would you mind telling me why it was filled to the brim with waste products? Rather old ones at that.", her voice was stern.

"It was a rather cruel prank, ma'am. A certain Trio thought it was funny to fill my locker with waste and shove me in, then left me there to rot.", thankfully I managed to keep my voice calm.

"It was the culmination of a bullying campaign that had been going on for quite a while now."

"Then, pray tell, why did you not come to the school staff with such a problem? We can't do anything if we don't know about this 'Trio's' actions.", she really had the gall to say that to my face.

I clenched my fists and hoped that she couldn't see the action.

"Well, I did bring up the situation a few times. Sadly, my accusations were dismissed as slander."

Blackwell sighed. "This is another one of your accusations against Ms Hess, Ms Barnes and Ms Clements, isn't it _?_ ", she looked me straight in the eyes, "Listen, you do not have any concrete evidence that those three are the perpetrators of anything against you. Neither other students nor any teachers have brought anything suggesting their involvement in _any_ bullying to my attention. Under these circumstances I have no choice but to dismiss your claims."

I clenched my fists even tighter and most of my body stiffened.

"And exactly that is the reason I didn't come to you with accusations over and over again, after those fist few times. Nobody cares about them doing such things and the teachers look away. I, personally, don't understand how none of your teachers noticed anything when they were sometimes looking _right at me_ when the trio did something.", my voice wavered a little bit, "Why doesn't anybody do anything... Is there cape involvement or what?! Some kind of PR move to keep up a good image?"

Blackwell stiffened but I was in too much of a roll to notice.

"Seriously, I would think there was a Ward involved if I didn't know any better. Arcadia is the school they go to... Why would the Protectorate ever let them go to a shithole like this?!"

Blackwell took the conversation into her hands at that point.

"Now, I will not tolerate you call my school something like _that_! Winslow is a perfectly suitable location for children your age to learn.", she looked stern and spoke with steel in her voice, "It seems that this conversation is getting us nowhere. The school will cover the expenses of the locker cleaning for now, please refrain from wasting any more of my time or resources. Classes are starting soon, you are dismissed."

And with that I left.

.oO...Oo.

My first class was going to be computer science with Mrs Knott, probably my favourite subject.

The class was also, thankfully, a safe zone from the Trio. Probably because computer class was 'too nerdy' for them. I was glad this was my first class so I could rest in peace and gather my thoughts 'before the storm'. Once I entered the room, Mrs Knott noticed and greeted me.

"Ah, Taylor. Good to see you in class again. I hope you are better now, I heard about what happened and...", she started and I interrupted her.

"Don't worry about it, Mrs Knott. Everything should be settled now.", I tried to muster a smile and it seemed like she bought it; I continued towards my seat in the corner of the room.

Winslow had fought long and hard to get permission to host a computer room and the school and staff were rather proud of that which prompted them to try to keep to room as clean as possible (for a school like Winslow). Even so, the paint was coming off the walls and it sunk a little, not particularly bad, mind you, the air was just rather stale and the room had this electronic-y smell.

Compared to the rest of the school, the environment here was heaven.

Once no more students poured into the room, Mrs Knott closed the door and class began.

.oO...Oo.

"Well, well, well... Look who's back, Ems. It's the locker girl."

Just leaving the classroom put me in this situation. A mob of girls, all seemingly talking to themselves while actually throwing insult after insult at me; I didn't bother to listen to the small fries, though. Instead I focused on the three smug bitches leading them.

Emma spoke, pretending to be concerned. "Oh, Taylor. I've been so worried. You weren't here for so long. I almost thought you'd left forever...", her 'smile' turned sinister, "A real shame, really."

"Yeah", Madison added, "stay away, I don't want to smell like loser." Her usually 'cute' demeanour now switched out for a cruel visage.

I tried to ignore them, turn and go the other way but Sophia blocked my way by leaning against the wall. She must have sneaked around me while I had been focused on Emma.

"Come on, Hebert, the we've just started talking; it's rude to leave a conversation just like that.", Hess grinned maliciously.

I was tempted to just vanish right then and there, leaving the school via power, but I knew I had to endure or all would go to waste. At least for now I would have to 'bite the sour apple'.

"Don't just ignore us! Or are you trying to go home to cry yourself to sleep for a week? It's okay, I understand.", Emma's words rang through my skull, "After all... nobody wants you. Not here, not anywhere. Taylor, not even your mom would want yo-" " **SHUT IT!** "

They stared at me; I supposed they weren't really expecting me to interrupt them.

I turned to Emma, tears already welling in my eyes. "Really, Emma... you use _that_ against me? _What kind of monster have you become...?_ " I whispered the last part, and nobody but Sophia seemed to have heard.

And Sophia whispered back, a malicious and truly evil grin on her face.

" _She's become a predator..._ "

And that was the last straw. I somehow managed to move around Sophia and escaped through the main entrance, the agitated whispers of the bystanders and the calls from my tormentors and their hanger-ons following me.

.oO...Oo.

In retrospect, I knew that I probably shouldn't have fled. There were still classes and I would be marked as missing for them, if the teachers even noticed my absence. And I should not have come _here_.

I sighed a little. Best to turn all that anger and frustration into something productive.

I knocked and a truly small time later, the door was opened.

My teacher eyed me curiously. "Good day my student."

I tried not to meet his eyes. "Good day, master."

"Why don't you come in for now and we'll talk a bit; tea will be ready shortly."

I followed him inside and took off my shoes at the entrance.

"You know, I did not expect you here so soon. Isn't it still time for you to be in school?"

He asked this but Taylor was sure he had some sort of idea of what happened. Not necessarily about the bullying, but of me leaving school because of something similar.

I sat down on the small table, the wooden floor creaked a little at the sudden shift of weight. The overall atmosphere was comforting and even a little cosy; it had started to snow outside and the winds had picked up in strength. With a little luck I wouldn't have to go to school the next days because of a snow storm. Although I had to wonder... it did not snow this much very often, at least in Brockton bay.

Stanley sat down in front of me, his voice showing only a little concern for my absence from school.

"Now, why don't you tell me what happened? I'm your teacher now, so don't feel lie you can't trust me, please. We need to get to know each other."

I took sip of tea and began my 'tale'.

At first I only talked about the basics. I was getting bullied by some girls and they had thrown a particularly hurtful insult at me. Soon the man seated opposite of me started probing for details, details I was reluctant to tell.

But after some time, and two cups of tea, I had loosened up a little and told him about Emma, her betrayal and the hell I've went through for the past year and a half. He looked a little stricken at first but I was thankful that he did not try comforting me with physical contact.

"And that is one of the reasons I want you to teach me; I want to become more confident and at least stand up to them."

I finished my tale and he looked a little thoughtful so I clarified.

"I'm not looking for revenge or anything like that. I just want to be able to look them in the eye and openly defy them and their expectations of me breaking down."

At last he nodded, a small smile gracing his lips. "Well then, we better get to work, right?"

I smiled. "Of course, my master."

His smile broke into a grin.

 _ **A/N: Really, I'm almost hesitant to upload this. This chapter has taken such a long time to write... about 4 months... seriously. Well, I am glad to be able to say that I have found some time to complete. My schedule is just so incredibly full these days, but I might have a solution for that.**_

 _ **I hope you enjoyed the chapter. There will be coming more soon, I was just afraid of writing social interactions (I've got some practice now, though).**_

 _ **Have a wonderful day, everyone.**_

 _ **-Azralan, signing out...**_

 _PS: I actually wanted to make this chapter longer, but I also really want this up on FFnet so the next chapter is likely to have some more social interaction before it comes to fighting scenes (sigh)._


	6. Movement 3 (old lungfight)

**Movement 1.3**

Tonight was going to be the first night I would be going out.

I was excited.

I was nervous.

I felt like a kid going to explore the world.

And it felt good.

My costume was almost painfully simple.

I didn't want any unnecessary weight slowing me down, so I wore a simple jumpsuit, a light brown in colour. It had to be skintight, sadly, but I could strap all of my needles on it. I still wore my training weights under it, but I was certain that I'd be able to teleport them away if I had to. To stay anonymous, I wore a simple domino mask.

I had pretty much everything required to be a superhero, including my dads okay.

The only thing I didn't have... was a name.

Damn... I really need to think of one... or let the public name me.

Being all set, I teleported up to the rooftops. I decided I'd head to the docks first.

Using a mix of teleportation and parcours arrived there in practically no time.

The docks were ABB territory.

And ABB meant Lung. Certainly the most feared cape in Brockton Bay. A Monster who had fought Leviathan... solo.

ABB could also mean Oni Lee. Another teleporter and a rather efficient assassin who used the clones he left behind when teleporting as suicide bombers.

Yeah, he was creative like that.

I had to be very careful around here.

That was when I heard it.

''...The children, just shoot. Doesn't matter your aim, just shook. See one lying on the ground? Shoot the little bitch twice more to make sure! We won't give them any chance to be smart or lucky."

It was Lung. And he was about murder kids.

Damn, first night out and already facing Lung... an easy start indeed.

My thoughts were dripping with sarcasm.

But I had already decided what I wanted to do.

Face him.

It was going to be hard, but I'd somehow manage to do it. If necessary, I could always kill him... yeah right, as if. Although a needle in the brain might slow him down a bit.

Alright, first thing would be the thugs. I can't do much against guns, especially that many. And if I can't get them away, I'll have to take Lung away, then finish him off quickly.

I steeled myself for the execution of this crazy plan.

Ready...

Set...

Go!

[3;-6;10|90°;0°;0°]... whoosh.

Even if the plan was suicidal, the look on Lungs face when I kicked him backwards with a full force reverse-roundhouse-kick was hilarious. It looked like it took his breath away. Which was impossible, I mean, this was Lung.

[0;0.1;5|180°;0°,0°] I showed up behind him with a quick elbow to the back, once I touched him, I [0;50;0|0°;90°;0°] teleported him up into the air, taking myself with Him. Then I proceeded to kick him back to the ground, full Force. I quickly moved my hands and reached for my nails. I teleported five of the into the ground below [-2~2;-50.03;-2~2|0°;0°;0°] so that they were sticking out slightly. Then I [0;-30;-10|0°;0°;0°] fled onto a rooftop. Hopefully that knocked him out.

The gang members were gawking. Well, I'd probably be gawking too if my thought to be invincible boss was easily knocked out. That, or pissing my pants. I decided to try it the cocky way.

''So, who's next?", I definately looked intimidating standing atop a roof with the moon behind my back, my single braid swirling in the light breeze.

I heard guns dropping. The gang members turning around to run away.

Well, that was easy. Now, what to do with Lung...

Looking at the moon, realization hit me hard... the dumpster, too.

I got sent into the air, the heavy weight pressing me onwards. Yeah, I so needed a phone to call the protectorate with.

I groaned, trying to sit up from where I've fallen. My last-second teleportation of the dumpster probably saved my life... where did it end up, anyways?

Me looking up at the form of Lung, scaled and now covered in filth, two ripped apart halves of a dumpster behind him, answered that question for me.

Damn, that guy looked angry.

''moo..foka. A KII OO", Lung roared, his changing jaw distorting his voice.

Now I was the one who got to appreciate the light of the moon shining onto my opponent. Yep, it looked intimidating.

I had no time to appreciate it 'though. I was already injured. It really was foolish to take on Lung on your first night out. Why did I do that again? Oh yeah, the kids. Well, not with me.

Doing a quick back-flip I [0;7.3;-10.4|0°;0°;0°] in mid air, retaining my momentum, and landed atop a roof behind me, just as Lung had enough of the intimidation tactics and decided he would try to grill me. Good thing I wasn't there, anymore.

Now, I needed a plan to deal with him properly. My earlier strategy wouldn't work, it was too late to go for blitzkrieg tactics, and this wasn't a video game, so no explosive barrels standing around here... Not that they'd help me much, anyway. Lung was a pyrokinetic, after all.

Eeeep!

I dodged a fireball with a quick teleport to the side. I really shouldn't think so long. Lung only got stronger the longer the fight lasted.

Going into meele would be suicide. I had to play evasively...

Well, I could try to drop him from above again. It might do damage as long as he didn't grow his wings. Now, how to get close to him... I could probably stab his eyes... but then he'd just put a veil of flames around him and I wouldn't be able to do anything.

…

Damn, these fireballs were annoying. Teleport hopping from roof to roof did buy me time to think, 'though.

Eureka! If he doesn't have his wings or feet he won't be able to proberly absorb the fall.

With that thought and an appropriate plan in mind. I lured him back to the warehouse we started our chase from. Aaaand... there!

I landed in front of it, my feet making light tapping noises on the ground. I quickly ran inside, the heat was already starting to get unbearable... and to think that I had to get in close to that guy.

I had to hurry.

Just as I found what I was looking for, I heard Lung landing outside, instantly spewing fire into the warehouse.

Ducking for cover behind the metal plate I'd found, I readied myself.

3...

2...

1...

[1.5;-0.2;6.32|0°;95°;0°]

Lung screamed, more roared, really, as his feet were cut off, the metal plate I'd been holding moments ago now separating his legs from them.

I quickly followed up with two needles to his eyes by making a swinging motion with my hands, creating the neccessary momentum for the projectiles, and teleporting them just before they left my hand. They lodged in deep.

I shuddered. Yeah, I wasn't going to do that again. Quickly, before he could react with a counter-attack, I teleported myself directly before him, my palm now on his stomach. Te I stretched my power to the limit.

Aaand...

[0; 81.5;10]

Up he went. I quickly followed.

High up in the night sky, I took hold of him again, the heat he was giving off burning my skin.

With another stretch of my power I made him appear higher yet again, only this time, I'd teleport back to the ground.

I estimated where he would land, dashed towards a support beam holding the roof up, and proceeded to lodge it into the ground with my teleportation power.

I heard Lung roar... looking up, I saw that he had started to grow wings, which were slowing his fall.

Shit!

That was the only word for it.

But at last, I did have some luck, too. The wings only slowed him down.

He impacted the spike, getting impaled with a wet splash.

Well, not so much luck for me, apparently. He was still conscious, and slowly righted himself up.

That was it. I wouldn't survive that night...

Suddenly, a large black creature jumped down from above, landing atop of Lung and knocking him out for good. With a final groan, he reversed his form, his stomach wound still slowly regeneration, the support beam broken by the force of the... rhino? Dog?

Two other monstrosities landed near me and I turned to look at their riders.

A tall man dressed in leather with a skull painted onto his motorcycle helmet.

A flamboyant looking teenager with victoria style clothing, a silver coronet and a white mask.

A homely looking girl with a cheap dog mask... probably the commander of these dog-like creatures.

A blonde in a skintight black and purple jumpsuit with a domino mask.

The tall one in leather stepped forward.

''You really saved us a lot of trouble tonight. When we heard Lung and his gang were coming for us we were pretty freaked.

First we argued over s strategy but eventually we decided to just say 'fuck-it' and go out. We met Oni Lee on the way, he's no slouch in a fight, but there's a reason he's not the leader of the ABB. He fled when we gave him a hard time and his boss wasn't showing up. I guess you're responsible for that? "

I was unsure what to answer. These guys didn't look like heroes to me... Oh well, I could always teleport out of there.

''Yes, that was my doing. I actually thought he'd go after kids, not ominous looking teens. Who are you exactly?"

Leather guy answered: ''We're the Undersiders. Relatively new. I'm Grue, the leader of hte Undersiders. The blonde over there is Tattletale. The girl with the dogs... we call her Bitch but if you want to be P.G. her name's Hellhound. Last and certainly least, there's Regent."

''Fuck you, Grue.", the boy with the sceptre replied.

Miss domino mask looked over at Lung and whistled.

''Wow, you did quite the number on him. Dropped from up high twice, impaled, feet cut off, eyes stabbed. He got the whole thing."

Grue stepped in. ''Yes, we could really use someone like you. There'd be plenty of money in for you, too. And we..."

Tattletale interrupted with a 'Shit, we've gotta scram! PRT's on the way.'.

They mounted their dogs. Looking at me, Grue offered: ''Need a ride? The Protectorate doesn't take kindly to villains duking it out."

I declined and they took off. I briefly wondered how they could think I was a villain with this kind of costume. Looking behind me I saw the moon shining at me... yea... intimidating setting, I get it.

 **A little later**

The sounds of the motorcycle approaching had gotten louder until they came to a stop close by. I watched Armsmaster get off, lift his halberd and approach carefully while I was standing next to Lungs prone body. He actually looked like a superhero, with his armour, visor and weapon.

''You gonna fight me?", he called out.

''No, I'm a good guy.", he relaxed at that. Finally someone who didn't see me as a villain. Probably because this time, the moon shone from behind him. Strangely enough, it didn't make him look like a villain... although that could be because of his armour reflecting the moonlight.

''You're telling the truth.", he stated. A lie detector?

He lowered his Halberd. ''You need a hospital?"

''No, I'm as surprised as you are.", I mean, that was Lung. The horror of the docks.

''You're a new face", he remarked, ''What's your name?"

''I... haven't chosen one yet... It's hard to come up with a good one.", Armsmaster smiled a little at that.

''Yeah, I got into the business early enough, when there were still good ones.

But on another note, have you thought about joining the Wards? The program might be beneficial for you.", he suddenly got more serious and business-like.

''Actually, that was the reason I stayed, I'd like to join up, but I felt a demonstration was necessary... I didn't expect to run into Lung of all people."

''I suppose nobody does that... Since you're interested in joining... Let's head back to HQ."

 **At the headquarters**

Director Piggot was a rather obese woman with brown hair in a tight bun high atop her head, a tailored business-suit and a strict look on her face. From the way she handled herself it was obvious that she had experienced in her field of work. Next to her sat a woman with an american flag disguising her face. She was built like an amazon and seemed of middle-eastern origin.

When Armsmaster and I entered after Lung had been taken into custody they perked up.

Armsmaster then took a seat next to Piggot's other side, the big round table providing enough space for him, even with his armour on.

I took a seat opposite to them.

Piggot spoke first: ''First of all, thank you for taking out Lung so we could arrest him. You did us a great favour. As I understand it, you expressed interest in joining the Wards. First, howewer, we must know what exactly happened there at the docks. If you'd enlighten us, please? "

I gathered my thoughts and explained: ''Well. This was actually supposed to be an easy first night out. When I arrived at the docks, I overheard Lung talking about murdering kids. I decided that I should do something against that, and if I happened to be defeated, I'd flee with the aid of my power.

I decided I should go for a hard surprise hit to avoid him getting powered up, so I dropped him from up high, onto some nails in the ground.

After I'd scared his gang members away, he stood up again. I dodged his fireballs during our chase over the rooftops. Eventually, I decided I'd try again, dropping him from even higher before he grew wings.

I lured him back to our starting point inside an abandoned warehouse. Once inside, I teleported him a little over a hundred meters above the ground, after cutting his feet off with a steel plate, and impaled him with a support beam of the warehouse. He stayed conscious and was about to stand up when one of... hellhound's dogs finally knocked him out.

The children he wanted to murder turned out to be the Undersiders."

''You wouldn't have been able to arrest them?", Armsmaster asked.

''Not with the aches and injuries I got from my fight with Lung, no."

Piggot spoke again: ''Now that that's cleared, how about we continue this in the morning? Then your father will be able to come and sign the necessary documents, alright?"

''Of course, ma'am. My father has already expressed his consent regarding my entry into the Wards."

''Excellent. Until then, have a nice... morning."

 _ **A/N: Hooray! Chapter 3 finished. I do hope the fighting scene was sufficiently filled with action. In case of new ideas, I might overhaul it a bit. Thank you very much for reading and reviewing. Have a wonderful day.**_


	7. Movement 4 preview and AN (old)

_**A/N:** Alright, so... I'm aware that, according to Ffnets guidelines, chapters aren't supposed to be used for author's notes only which is why I'm going to preview the next chapter a bit._

 _I'm very sorry for being such a lazy bum and not writing anything for over a month (has it been 2 already? Not sure) and want to apologize. However, I have not been comletely lazy: I've worked out several new ideas and started writing the first chapters some; I will not release these quite yet, though, seeing as I'm already overwhelmed with just 2 stories. The next 'Finally A Cape, Da Ze' chapter is almost ready and starting a new Arc._

 _Portus will have it's first few Chapters rewritten as I am not satisfied with the plot development._

 _(It feels a bit rushed, doesn't it?)_

… _I just noticed I'm writing this on the wrong computer, the one without the actual storyfiles..._

 _ **[changing to laptop]**_

 _Alright. So, as I was saying: I'm going to rewrite the first few chapters. I've had some reviews pointing out some flaws, thanks for all the reviews, by the way, and I'm going to slow down the plot development a bit. So If you're reading this on the mobile app, make sure to change the settings so the app updates revised chapters._

 _ **Now, without further ado, here's the small preview:**_

 **Movement 1.4**

The next morning had me waking up slowly to the smell of pancakes.

Such a wonderful smell. I slowly made my way into the bathroom to freshen up.

While spraying cold water at my face I mentally went over the events that transpired last night.

It all seemed so... hazy. As if it hadn't even been me that fought Lung. I had felt like a professional, expertly using my power and martial arts in harmony.

 _Now that I think about it... The whole last months seemed to pass incredibly quickly, as if it all had been some kind of prelude to last nights fight._

I looked at my body in the mirror; toned, defined muscle made up my form.

 _I even developed rather fast... some kind of secondary power?_

That was something to think about.

When I entered the kitchen breakfast was ready; my dad had made pancakes with syrup.

He looked up, "Already awake, Taylor? It's barely 10 am. When did you get back?"

I answered with a smile, "Around three-thirty, I've had enough sleep, don't worry."

I paused for a moment, then decided to talk to him about my meeting with the director.

"Dad, we need to talk.", that was something no father liked to hear from his daughter, "It's about the Wards, you said you were okay with my decision to join them, right?", he nodded, "Then we'll have to go to the PRT headquarters today, the director needs you present for my 'initiation', would that be okay?"

My dad looked at me; he seemed a little uncertain.

"Sure, Taylor. If that is what you want... But, are you _sure_ you want that?"

I nodded; I had already made up my mind.

"Fine. We'll go after breakfast. For now though? Sit down and enjoy your meal.

 **[At the PRT ENE headquarters]**

"Now, if you would please follow me, the director is expecting you.", with that the guard showed us the way and we followed him.

When we entered the office we found the director and Armsmaster sitting on one end of the same table we sat on yesterday. Almost as if they haven't moved at all.

Piggot decided t greet us.

"Good day.", she nodded at us, then turned to dad, "You're her father, I assume? Please, have a seat."

We seated ourselves.

"Now, as we will have you both sign a non-disclosure agreement, furthermore we will need you to give us your identity. Everything clear?"

I turned back to Piggot and Armsmaster and removed my domino mask.

"Hello", I smiled, "my name is Taylor Hebert. And this is my father Danny."

"Now then, how about you go and meet your future teammates? I'm sure they are excited; Miss Militia is waiting outside to escort you to them.", the Director told me. And I, once again, confirmed by nodding.

I waved at that and left the room so they could finish the legal stuff.

Miss Militia was waiting outside; I smiled at her.

"Now, seems like everything went well. Good to hear. Follow me, I'll take you to the Ward's quarters."

We made our way down several hallways until we arrived at an elevator. Miss Militia used her registration card to open the doors, the elevator rumbled a little and went upWards (get it?).

A bing noise sounded and a small light lit up; the doors opened.

We stepped out into the Ward's lounge which featured four teenagers around a table, seated in a couch and chairs. They turned to face us.

"Wards, meet your new teammate.", Miss Militia smiled.

"Uh... Hi, I'm Taylor. I'm your teammate now, I guess."

Suddenly I found myself hugged.

" _Finally_ another girl on the team. I've been waiting for so long.", the blonde took off her mask, "I'm Missy, or Vista in costume, nice to meet you.", she seemed rather energetic; "You know, it's so nice to finally have another girl on the team, and before you start: Shadow Stalker doesn't count!"

"Yeah, nice to meet you. All of you.", with that I sat myself down with them.

…

"So, Taylor, I heard what happened to Lung last night and I think I have t congratulate you.", Aegis said, "Although I believe we need to have a talk about excessive force, you did a good job. We've been gunning for the ABB for quite some time now. So...", he moved a hand to remove his mask, "It's nice to meet you again, 'senpai"

My mind went blank for a short moment.

"C-Carlos? What are you doing here... wait, you were a Ward all along? But... If you already have superpowers, why would you visit Sensei's Dojo?"

"Well, I could ask you the same question. It was decided that it might be beneficial if the Wards learned Martial-Arts, to defend themselves out of costume, et cetera; which is why I joined up."

Clockblocker used the opportunity to remove his own mask, he introduced himself as Dennis; Gallant introduced himself as Dean.

"KW and Shadow Stalker are out on patrol so you'll get to know them later. But for now, please, tell us about the lung fight. We haven't heard any details."

 _ **A/N: So, that's it for now. Please note that this preview and all other chapters currently released will likely be subject to change. I, once again, sincerely apologize for any inconvenience caused and for me being lazy. Stay tuned and have a good day.**_


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